News site Topix.net will relaunch this evening under their newly acquired domain name Topix.com. They are also launching a new product that will allow readers to write and edit local news articles directly.
The news was first written about by USA Today this afternoon. Topix is partly funded by USA Today’s parent company, Gannett, McClatchy and Tribune.
Topix already has local news pages for cities and towns across the United States and Canada (here’s the page for Atherton, CA). The news is auto-generated for those pages currently. Tonight, Topix will let users of the site become local editors, and write or expand on articles that will be of interest to that community.
Topix started allowing readers to leave comments on the site just over a year ago. The first editors will be selected from heavy commenters on the site.
Screen shots below. See the Topix corporate blog, and CEO Rich Skrenta’s personal thoughts as well.
